To the surprise of many, don’t expect any changes to the Boston Bruins’ front office this summer. According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Bruins will retain President Cam Neely and General Manager Don Sweeney to invent the next iteration of Boston’s roster.
It’ll be the first time Sweeney has had to engage in a retool during his tenure as General Manager. Sweeney took over as the team’s top decision-maker in 2015-16. He manufactured the roster that took the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 and the team that set the single-season win record in 2022-23.
Unfortunately, aside from their loss to the St. Louis Blues in 2019, Boston hasn’t appeared in the Eastern Conference Final in any other year under Sweeney’s regime. The Bruins have fallen to last place in the Eastern Conference since selling off at the trade deadline in March, while being projected to have a top-five pick since selecting Tyler Seguin second-overall in the 2010 NHL Draft.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- If the 2024-25 season couldn’t get any worse for the Buffalo Sabres, one of their top defenseman could be out longer-term with a leg injury. Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reported that defenseman Owen Power has a serious injury and may require surgery this summer. The injury in question took place in the Sabres’ second-to-last game against the Florida Panthers when Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe awkwardly fell on his leg.
- In addition to their upcoming attempt to win the 14th Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, one of the main storylines off the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs is their contract negotiations with forward Matthew Knies. According to a new report from The Fourth Period, there is no worry from either side that a new deal won’t be agreed upon, but there is a lengthy gap in the expected length of his next contract. The report indicates that the Maple Leafs prefer a six-to-eight-year deal, while Knies’ camp prefers a three-to-five-year agreement. Given that only a one-year gap exists between Toronto’s low end and Knies’s high end, it should make for a reasonable compromise between the sides.
- Unfortunately, there’s some negative news for the Maple Leafs as they prepare for a lengthy post-season. Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Luke Fox reported that there’s no guarantee defenseman Jake McCabe will be available for the team in their Round One matchup. McCabe hasn’t played since early April due to an undisclosed injury and would be a major missing piece for Toronto’s blue line in the playoffs. The 12-year veteran is second on the team in blocked shots (135) and seventh in expected +/- (6.6) through 66 games played.
- For the first time in five years, Sabres forward Tage Thompson will play for Team USA in the World Championships (Twitter Link). After being excluded from the United States’ Four Nations Face-Off roster in February, this strikes as a move for Thompson to raise his Olympic profile for next season. He scored one goal and five points in eight games during his last appearance in the offseason tournament in 2021.
I can’t see how Thompson won’t be on the USA olympic roster. Aside from the goal scoring, he (along with Caufield) is a right shot, something USA only had two of (Eichel and Trocheck) at forward at the 4 Nations. Need some balance up front.
@Gbear – Agreed. He’s almost as deadly from Alex’s office as the GR8 himself.
@Mac – I love what guys like Kreider, Nelson and Trocheck have done for USA hockey, but it’s time for guys like Thompson, Caufield and Keller to get the call.
Technically Sweeney took over 2014-15. Saying 15-16 makes it sound like he had nothing to do with drafting Barzal-Conner-Chabot back to back to ba…. oh that’s right. We ended up with Zboril-DeBrusk-Senyshyn.
Also not seeing a lot in the papers about big Deaner bursting onto the NCAA scene with a 36-0-3-3-6 stat line. 6’7 non scorer and you can’t take one 10 to up the PIMs?
Hoping he leans towards more McAvoy and less lysell, or Beecher, or Frédéric, or Vaakarainen.
great- the Bruins retain their admirals and captains as the Titanic continues to sink, then the team may well have blown their top 4 draft pick by getting that 1 point last night in their OT loss to the Devils. they will pick anywhere from 4th to 8th now based on how the season ends. all they had to do was lose in regulation- something they have been very good at doing of late…
…and congrats to former Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, who turned the Blues around into a playoff team. as my late dad would have said- “why can’t we get guys like that?”
Other than Pastrnak, Geekie, and perhaps McAvoy, everybody else should be on notice.
very frustrating season- and a potentially ugly off-season to come.